Just over five years since Saracens were condemned to relegation for multiple breaches of the salary cap, we have passed from a period of Premiership excess into an age of suspicion. And, currently, it is Bath who find themselves under a collective glare.
Last week, in the space of two days, the West Country club announced that Santiago Carreras and Henry Arundell would be joining them for the 2025-26 campaign. Both signings had been widely reported already, yet confirmation resulted in several wisecracks.
Andy Goode is rarely shy of identifying elephants in a room and communicated what many would have been pondering when Arundell’s move from Racing 92 was finally heralded. “Anyone checking the Bath salary cap?” posted the former England fly-half on X.
The question is a fair one. While rivals have cut spending, with Bristol Bears particularly evangelical about ending their galáctico era in favour of a streamlined squad, Bath seem to have consolidated and strengthened.
They were opportunistic in acquiring some of the most exciting talents from the Premiership sides to have unravelled in 2022, picking up Ted Hill, Ollie Lawrence and Alfie Barbeary from Worcester Warriors and Wasps, respectively. Thomas du Toit is proving to be a phenomenal recruit.
Last summer, Guy Pepper was plucked from Newcastle Falcons and lock Ross Molony came on board from Leinster on around £250,000 per year. This was after Sam Underhill, Cameron Redpath, Will Stuart, Max Ojomoh, Charlie Ewels, Josh Bayliss, Tom de Glanville, Miles Reid, Niall Annett, Will Muir, Archie Griffin and Joe Cokanasiga had all extended terms.
All of these salaries, plus plenty more such as that of club captain Ben Spencer and Lawrence, must be squeezed under the cap because Finn Russell is Bath’s sole marquee, or ‘exempt’, player. His pay packet of close to £750,000 is effectively disregarded from calculations. Even so, it is a reasonable assumption that there cannot be much wiggle room.
Next season, Arundell and Carreras as well as Dan Frost, the Exeter Chiefs hooker, and Bernard van der Linde, the Bulls scrum-half, will need to be accounted for. Others, such as Lawrence, Spencer and Beno Obano, have renewed.
How did Bath prise Carreras away from Gloucester?
Even if a list of leavers will be released in due course – and veteran Annett is understood to be among those out of contract – the curiosity is understandable. Indeed, cynicism has developed in some quarters. Gloucester tabled the best offer they could to keep Carreras and another Premiership side is thought to have made a strong play for the Puma, who will be crossing the West Country for between £250,000 and £300,000 a year.
It would be reckless for any club to breach regulations that have grown sharper teeth since Saracens’ transgressions. Bath, six points clear at the top of the league and burning to avenge their loss to Northampton Saints in the domestic decider last season, are on course to expose themselves to greater scrutiny.
For the past few seasons, the Premiership champions have been subjected to a special audit that encompasses a forensic review of emails and WhatsApp messages between club officials as well as tax returns and bank accounts of up to 50 per cent of their players. Andrew Rogers, the Premiership’s salary-cap director, has licence to implement whatever “additional action” he sees fit and sanctions are catastrophic.
As a starting point, the cap limit is perhaps higher than some realise. Its base is £6.4 million, which rises to £7.8 million with home-grown player credits (up to £600,000 at £50,000 per player), international player credits (another £400,000 at up to £80,000 per player) and £400,000 for injury dispensation. Add in an exempt player like Russell and clubs have the capacity to splurge more than £8.5 million. Bath’s expenditure is certainly attracting more attention because other clubs are being frugal.
Rob Burgess, the former agent who joined Bath as head of recruitment in 2023, is regarded as an astute operator with enough nous to address the clutter that had accumulated under the signing sprees of previous regimes.
One source suggested that Bath have become “shrewd with their valuations below first-choice”, with others citing creative “phasing” or back-loading of contracts. This practice has been rife around the country, particularly as Covid caused the salary cap to be reduced before.
Usually, when a club signs a player, a fee is agreed and will stay more or less constant for the term of the contract. With an up-and-coming player, there might be performance-related “kickers” that see the value rise, from £150,000 to £170,000 to £190,000, for example.
Contract back-loading and academy investment
Several sources suggested that Bath will, in effect, be deciding upon a pay package and using 13 or 25-month contracts. A player might obtain £120,000 or £130,000 over the first two years of a deal before receiving a lump sum in the July of their third year.
Salary-cap rules do average the salaries of marquee players to prohibit huge sums that are exempt from the cap, but back-loading other squad members was described as “clever” and “completely legal”. There is an element of kicking the can down the road towards a potential date with destiny, which is where a prolific production line comes in.
Another of Bath’s tactics is aggressive academy investment. Bath covet what one insider called “truly aligned partnerships” with nearby schools such as Beechen Cliff and the University of Bath. Offering game-time in the well-respected BUCS Super Rugby competition as well as scope for a degree, the latter is an effective recruitment tool.
Home-grown players are exempt from the Premiership’s academy salary cap, which allows for a further £100,000 – but no more than £50,000 per player – to be spent on non-home-grown additions under the age of 24.
Pepper, already one of the best back-rows around, is thought to have been bagged from Falcons on an agreement worth close to £500,000 over three seasons. Crucially, the first year of this will only see just more than £40,000 count against the academy cap.
Bath also place great value in the leadership of Johann van Graan, their head of rugby. Van Graan is an advocate of regular squad rotation, which will keep fringe players engaged, and always speaks effusively about his charges.
A coaching team featuring Lee Blackett, JP Ferreira and Richard Blaze prides itself on improving individuals, while there is an awareness that medical provision, expert conditioning and nutrition can all enrich the careers of professional athletes.
The pursuit of trophies is another factor that will mitigate remuneration to a certain degree, a concept one source termed as “the old Leicester Tigers tax”. Spencer is thought to have re-signed on reduced terms of £250,000 or so. Then there is the carrot of international recognition.
Frost, a former Bath academy lad, is only 27 and could have a crack at winning an England cap. Telegraph Sport understands that Arundell will be on around £190,000. His local connections – he attended Beechen Cliff and comes from a family of Bath supporters – have been publicised, but a stronger subplot of him crossing the Channel is whether Steve Borthwick will select him.
The England head coach and Conor O’Shea have both visited Paris since the last World Cup and the advent of enhanced elite player squad contracts can directly benefit Premiership sides by bolstering what they shell out to players.
Lawrence, whose new deal is not thought to have been a huge jump on his last, is the only Bath man to have received one of those agreements so far. Stuart and Underhill must have been close. Arundell, eligible again soon with his return to the Premiership, possesses the raw speed that Borthwick wants to inject into his team.
There is a certain irony in how fans will groan about English clubs failing to build depth yet point fingers when it looks as though a side might be pushing the boundaries.
The salary cap is a critical plank of the Premiership’s integrity. And should Bath get where they want to go and clinch the top prize, they will need to open the books and accept a thorough inspection anyway.
